Let’s talk about materialism. I’d like to say that I’m not
materialistic, but to some degree everyone is. I like to have the newest things
and follow certain modern trends. I may not be able to afford some of the
things that I want, but I aspire and try hard to achieve getting these luxuries.
For some people these materialistic items are like a Gucci handbag or an Ipad,
but mine is more like a Segway.
Tocqueville discusses in his writing that materialism is
different in Democracy versus an Aristocracy. In a democratic nation, materialism
is high and there is a high drive to have materialistic goods. In an
Aristocracy, materialism sort of depends on the class that you fall into. For
goodness sake, we have a day, Black Friday, that is all about shopping for
materialistic items and spending lots of money, which sadly, I participate in
every year. I’d say Tocqueville’s theory still holds true today about
materialism in the United States.
On that note, I don’t feel so bad if I’m materialistic
because it seems like we all are, according to Tocqueville.
While trying to wrap my mind around materialism, I was
messing around on Youtube and I happened to come across this video, a very
sarcastic sense of the term materialism called “SMOOTH E, ‘Materialism.’”. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AvkgrXb-dU)
This video is selling a bubble free scrub to solve ‘all teen problems’ of
buying materialistic items. This video is sort of spot on about materialism in
our country, although it seems a little sexist, but it demonstrates that material
items are sometimes chosen over necessities, like food…FOOD! (For those of you
who don’t know me, food is my ultimate weakness).
There’s the old saying that money can’t buy you happiness. I
wonder why our culture is so wrapped around materialistic items if they won’t
even give us concrete happiness in the long run. I think our splurge of
materialistic items is a temporary fix for our happiness, but I’d say my
materialistic items tend to make me content, but my unhappiness comes when I
look at my credit card bill.
I think you did a good job relating Tocqueville’s views of materialism to present day scenarios. I do agree with you that money does buy us the things that make us happy but would we be truly unhappy if we didn’t have those material things? I feel the base of a person’s happiness comes from his/herself and by the people they surround themselves with
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that this would is very materialist and that sometimes I can be a little materialist. But, I also would have to agree that everyone can be at times. I like that you stated the fact of why can people be so materialist when It doesn’t give us the long term happiness we want. Things like food and clothes should be a need not always a want. I also have to ask if we would really be happy if we didn’t have any materialist ideas at all?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy that you took a side about this issue and discussed it with a lot of solid examples. The fact that the majority of us have more than what we absolutely need means we all have a little materialistic ideas now and again. However, I don't see that as a bad thing. It gets bad when you forget about how many people do not get some of the tings they absolutely need.
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